DAVE PRENTICE, JUNE 2010: “ IT was the saddest sporting spectacle of my entire youth. The greatest sportsman who ever strode this planet, my all-time sporting hero, a 20th century icon, slumped in the corner of a Nassau boxing ring while a tinny cow bell – the bungling promoters had forgotten to provide a proper timekeeper’s instrument – signalled the end of the most remarkable boxing career in history.

Muhammad Ali, of course, was the victim.

The last rites to his charismatic career had just been read by an ordinary scuffler called Trevor Berbick. And the world seemed a less magical place.

But it isn’t just boxers who don’t know when to bow out, although that profession is greater than any other for self-delusion. Kenny Dalglish back as full-time Liverpool manager? Ten years after he last managed a football club? Exposed in an age of the instant idiot where message-boards, phone texters and tweeters pass instant judgement on football managers on an hourly basis?

That leaves me uneasy.

The odds are stacked against King Kenny. He wants the job and is an overwhelming favourite amongst Liverpool fans to reclaim his managerial crown.

The emotional pull is clear. He would bring dignity, a sense of order, a link with the club’s glorious past.

But sometimes in life we should be very careful what we wish for.

Ali was a king who was carried out on a dustcart. I’d hate to see King Kenny go the same way.”

IN the end he wasn’t carried out on a dustcart. He left with his reputation intact and untarnished, perhaps even enhanced by one more piece of silverware.

March’s Carling Cup triumph brought King Kenny’s Anfield roll call to nine league titles, three European Cups, three FA Cups and five League Cups.

Oh . . . and one bad Premier League season.

And in this modern, instant success driven world, that’s enough for a living legend to have his contract terminated.

One Carling Cup and an FA Cup near miss wasn’t nearly enough in the modern financially driven landscape which demands the cash cow of Champions League qualification.

“We are here to win,” said JW Henry on the day NESV finally ousted the derided Hicks and Gillett from Anfield.

And while Dalglish did deliver a trophy – and came within millimetres of possibly adding another – perhaps it would have been more accurate to add the caveat “but challenging for fourth place is more important.”

Yesterday’s decision by the Fenway Sports Group is a brave one.

On league results alone – it’s probably one which was necessary.

The briefly promising spell between April 11 and May 9 last year, when Liverpool scored 17 goals in five games, annihilated Manchester City and Newcastle and put five past Fulham and Birmingham, in a style reminiscent of Dalglish’s last great title-winning team, was never repeated.

Liverpool were infuriatingly inconsistent, even within matches as their Jekyll and Hyde FA Cup Final performance showed.

They couldn’t shake the habit of hitting the woodwork more than the net – and too many expensive acquisitions failed to shine.

The Rafael Benitez driven era of two European Cup finals in three seasons seemed an age ago.

And Liverpool couldn’t afford to fall even further behind the leading pack with financial fair play regulations looming.

Liverpool haven’t even looked like qualifying for that competition for three years – and that’s clearly a minimum possible requirement for the American owners.

Tom Werner said in last night’s statement: “We are committed to delivering success for our supporters and our ambition remains resolute to return this great Club to the elite of England and Europe, where it belongs.”

Words are cheap, but FSG have taken decisive action – and not for the first time.

They are effectively starting again at Anfield.

Liverpool currently have no manager, no assistant-manager, no director of football, no chief executive and no director of communications.

They also have no new stadium.

It’s a blank canvas on which to try and construct another masterpiece, and it appears that they are going to give it a go.

The Americans should be applauded, not criticised for the boldness of their vision.

But whoever arrives at Anfield now knows that significant improvement has to be pretty much instant.

Liverpool managers were never sacked.

Like the Royal Family, It was a natural succession.

Even when Gerard Houllier was effectively dismissed, his departure was dressed up as a mutually beneficial decision.

The Reds have now sacked two managers in less than two years.

It truly is a strange old game.

On the day Dalglish’s exit was mourned by a legion of Reds fans, the man the fans celebrated seeing the back of sat relaxed and secure as he announced his Euro 2012 squad.

Roy Hodgson is several years older than Dalglish.

But while he plots England’s progress at this summer’s international tournament, I’ll be surprised if we ever see Dalglish back in the managerial dug-out again.

We’ll see him around Anfield, of course, of that there’s no doubt.

And he will wander around the place with his reputation as one of that famous old football club’s most revered and respected icons intact.

On a day when his passing is quite correctly being mourned, perhaps we should also celebrate that he wasn’t being carried out in a dustcart.